"There's not enough plays being made, period," said Brooks, who has a show on SiriusXM Radio. "I know that's an umbrella statement, but when you look into the specifics of it, that defense didn't play well.

"Maybe they had the case of the, 'We got it.' As Monte Kiffin (former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator) told us for years and years, those are the three most dangerous words. How do you get better? Are the assistant coaches getting the players better? You got to dig into all those things before you say we got to get better players.

"Are there better players here that need to be coached better? Is our scheme good enough? Are we fine tuning our scheme every year? There were many times we were questioned about our scheme (Tampa 2), but we didn't change it. We got better at doing it. We invested time. Are the players investing enough time in this football team to get better? Do they care? That's a fair question to ask. You can care, but do you care? There's a very big difference."

When asked if he thought Detroit's players did not care, Brooks said he could not make that assessment just by watching film.

"I have to be around them in person to see," Brook said. "I can look around at a guy in the locker room with me, and I can tell if that guy came to work or is he going to work. Coming to work is I'm going to come, I'm going to work, I'm going to leave. Going to work means you're not looking to punch a time clock. You're not leaving until something gets better. That's a very big difference.

"I could easily tell that when I was in the locker room, especially our locker room in Tampa. If I saw that, I didn't keep it to myself. I would have to be around the guys to know that and make that fair assessment. I will say this, if they're not making enough plays, and I see that on tape, it's happening or not happening because of something. You would hope these guys are investing that time to figure out what it is, and I mean the players. The coaches will get you this far, but you need another extension of player investment to do it. I hope they are."

Brooks also is optimistic that Mayhew can retain his job after next season.

Mayhew and Brooks played together for two years in Tampa (1995 and 1996) before the future general manager retired.

They have maintained a close friendship, and Brooks, who is president of the Arena Football League's Tampa Bay Storm, hopes to follow his friend's path to an NFL front office position.

"When you look at what you're measured by, if that is the case, in terms of what the Fords say this is your grade and this is what it is, you have to be concerned about it," Brooks said. "My visit with him the past two years he's come to Tampa has been very good. The plan he has in place, it all seems good. On paper, it looks winnable. Why is this not working? I would put the same things down in terms of building a winning franchise, and he has to fine tune that.

"To say I'm concerned, in terms of him as a general manager for that team, the answer is yes. Am I concerned about him as a person? The answer is no. As a man, I know he'll be fine. I do want him to win so bad because of my personal relationship with him."